Paying Respects
by Smicc
Summary: This is just the story of how the charecters react to the death of one of their own. I'm not good at summaries, please if it sounds intresting check it out... just be warned, I was crying just writing it. It's fairly angsty and sappy at the same time. Ra
1. Chapter 1

This is my first attempt at a PoT fic so please be nice!

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT… If I did they would never play tennis with shirts on.

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"He was such a smart boy"

"He had such a bright future ahead of him"

"He was going to be very successful in his life"

Said voices in front of Kikumaru Eiji, it pained him to hear the past tense in their statements, he was, he had, it made everything seem too real. He found himself standing in front of a funeral parlor a few blocks from his own home; he'd been standing there for around five minutes now trying to wrap his head around the situation. The only problem was he didn't want to understand, he didn't want it to be real. The whole thing was just incomprehensible to him. It was just as absurd today as it had been on the day he first found out.

_It had been had been about a week ago when he got the call. He'd been on his way out of his dorm. He was going to meet up with his partner to play a long awaited game of tennis, doubles of course; they usually played in a park just about halfway between their respective colleges. A park that was always overflowing with tennis hopefuls so it was never hard to find people to play against. They usually meet up once every other week, however their last scheduled game had to be put on the backburner until today, Oishi had been studying for some big test and hadn't been able to play. They hadn't talked to each other in almost a week._

_Eiji had been really looking forward to their game, and was already late, of course Oishi would forgive his tardiness but that wasn't the point, so when he felt his cell phone ringing he rolled his eyes knowing from the ring tone that it was his mother calling and that she was probably planning to talk his ear off and make him even later._

"_Hello," he greeted._

"_Oh Eiji! … I'm so sorry…" had been all the pained voice needed to say for Eiji to know something was horribly wrong._

"It's ironic how he died… It just doesn't make sense for someone in that major to die like that," said the last person as they filtered through the large oak doors a few feet in front of Eiji. He didn't want to go in. He didn't want to face reality, knowing that he would have to accept it after he saw what was beyond those doors. Knowing he was the last to arrive and that his entire family was probably already in there, Eiji took a deep breath and with one shaking hand opened the doors and entered.

It was everything he had expected it to be. There were tons of people sitting in chairs talking quietly to each other. The faint smell of the sandalwood incense greeted him; he never did like the smell of it. There were lit candles all over, and framed pictures were on every available flat surface. The thing that grabbed his attention however was the large wooden coffin in the front of the room. He felt a lump growing in his throat as his eyes locked on the coffin. He stumbled over to a seat on the aisle in the last row. A man dressed in a suit came to the front and everyone turned their attention to him. He cleared his throat and began speaking.

"We're all gathered here today, in a time of great sorrow, we have sadly lost one of our numbers…" the man began to drone. Eiji tuned him out; he couldn't tear his eyes of the coffin or the black and white picture of the deceased young man on top of the coffin. It just couldn't possibly be real.

"_We're going to make it to nationals." Said Tezuka in a voice that brokered no argument._

_"Well of course we are! Why wouldn't we try to get to nationals?" smiled Eiji. Tezuka glared. _

_"Why indeed buchou?" grinned Fuji next to Eiji._

_"Fssh… this is pointless," hissed Kaidoh from the corner. It was raining outside and all of them were slightly disappointed that they weren't able to play and for a rare occasion, Tezuka's had decided to give them a pep talk. It was actually probably Oishi's idea, who was currently standing next to their captain nodding at the right moments. _

_"mada mada da ne" said Echizen pulling his hat lower on his face as he leaned against the lockers. Taka, sitting next to Echizen, seemed to have already fallen asleep. They had been cooped up in the locker room for over an hour now waiting for the rain to stop. They'd been caught in the unexpected downpour without a single raincoat or umbrella between them._

_"According to my data we have a 67.8 chance-"_

_"I don't wanna know!" cried Momo cutting off Inui mid spiel._

_"Fssh…You some baby that can't handle the truth"_

_"What'd you say mamushi!" growled Momo. "You wanna take this outside!" Kaidoh opened his mouth to response._

_"Say another word, and you're all getting laps," said Tezuka sternly._

_"Yeah! Let's sing songs instead!" cried Eiji happily. Fuji smiled at his friend. _

_"That sounds like a fun idea."_

_"Don't encourage him," pleaded Oishi._

_"STARTING WITH OISHI!" cried Eiji happily jumping onto his partners back._

_"Nya! What song are you going to sing!"_

"I'm not singing," 

_"You're a spoilsport! Nya!… Fine! Tez-"_

_"Hey look the rain stopped," interrupted Tezuka rushing out of the room. Eiji looked out the closing door confused._

_"No it didn't." Everyone else just laughed._

Before he knew it the man in the suit had finished speaking, Eiji had heard the last statement, something about an open microphone. A young man in the front row stood up and came to the podium to the right of the coffin.

"When I got the email, I thought it was just some kind of sick joke some one was playing on me," began Tezuka. Speaking almost the same exact words that Eiji had been thinking all along. "I just couldn't imagine not having him there. He's been with me since middle school. We've been friends for almost as long as I can remember, just the thought of never seeing him again is too hard to imagine… it's like trying to imagine never playing tennis," said Tezuka. He paused, his hands gripping the sides of the podium until his knuckles were white.

"I know I never really gave him credit but… he was really my closest friend, one of very few people I felt I could trust completely, I couldn't have gotten as good at tennis without him constantly pushing me to get better, or supporting me, no matter what I choose to do, or how many laps I choose to give the team" there was a brief chuckle from his tennis friends.

"As I was flying back here," began Tezuka again. "I was trying to think about what I would say given the chance. I was going to go with the obligatory, he was smart, he had a promising career in front of him, he was a good friend etc… but it just doesn't do justice to him, sure that's what he was, but that wasn't what he was about... There was so much more to Oishi Shuichiro than just that"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT. If I did there would be even more blatant yaoi.

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"I guess I just don't have the right words too do justice to my friend's memory… I was never the emotional rock that he was for everyone. I was the captain and he was my vice-captain. But really that team was more of a family. I was kind of the tough love father and Oishi was like the mother, I suppose, in fact he was called the mother of the Seigaku Tennis team," smiled Tezuka. "And everyone else on the team were his children, not ours, his. Whenever there was a problem they wouldn't come running to me, they'd go straight to Oishi, if someone was hurt or upset it was Oishi who would now, and would come running just to make them smile. He was always looking over everyone else. He really was one of the most amazing guys I've ever met, I feel very privileged to have known him."

"One instance sticks out in my mind as extremely Oishi-ish." Tezuka gave a small smile. "I remember it like it was just yesterday, Momoshiro and Kaidoh were fighting-"

"That was just yesterday," interrupted Fuji. That caused a few more chuckles, it seemed that everyone was loosening up.

"Well, anyways, they were fighting, I don't even remember what they were fighting about, and no one probably knew in the first place, it's possible that they were fighting just for the sake of fighting. So Oishi found out about it. It was during the school day, and they were fighting in the hallway just outside my classroom. I still don't know how Oishi knew they were fighting. It was probably some sixth sense he developed. He came stomping down the hall from his home ec class dressed in a bright pink apron, wielding a spatula, looking actually rather dangerous," said Tezuka with a small smile at the memory.

"So he gets right in Momoshiro and Kaidoh's faces and just gives them that look of his, you know the one, the what-do-you-think-you're-doing-stop-fighting-now look… He actually made them apologize to each other, the only instance I can remember to this date of either of them apologizing to the other. Then he made them hug before sitting in separate corners of the hall for a full five minutes to think about what they'd done before he released them back to class," laughed Tezuka. Everyone was laughing with him some in loud guffaws agreeing that it was indeed something Oishi would do, some chuckling, and some hysterical laugher, the later most mostly from Eiji. Tezuka went on, talking about Oishi. However Eiji's thoughts drifted off to that doom bringing phone call from his mother.

_"Eiji? Honey… I need you to sit down."_

_"What's wrong mom? What happened? Are you okay?" asked Eiji. _

_"… Eiji, baby… please sit down…" Eiji hesitantly did as he was told, he had just left the college grounds and there was a bench just past it. He sat down on the edge and focused all his attention on the phone._

_"Is everyone okay?"_

_"… There's been an accident…"_

_"An accident?"_

_"… Oishi's dead…" Those words sent a chill down his spine. His grasp around the phone loosened and he dropped his arm and just stared at the phone. There was no way this could be true. Of course, it was April first after all._

_"Nya! Mom! That was a good one, I believed you for a minute there," smiled Eiji. "So what did you really want, and make it kinda quick, I'm supposed to be meeting up with Oishi right now," smiled Eiji._

_"…Eiji…" said his mom tears evident in her voice. "Baby… this isn't a joke… Oishi's really dead…" at that point Eiji really did drop his phone, it fell to the ground with a loud clatter. He couldn't do anything but stare at it. Dead? There was no way Oishi was dead._

_"Eiji honey! Pick up the phone." Eiji stared down at the phone talking to him from the pavement, since when could phones talk? "Honey! Are you still there? Don't do anything stupid… I'm gonna come pick you up… so, so… just go back to room for now… I'll pick you up from your room" said Mrs. Kikumaru. _

_Eiji gave the phone one last confused look. He stood, picked up his tennis bag and ran off in the direction he'd originally been heading. It was all one big sick joke, it just had to be. He'd get to the courts and Oishi would be there warming up. Smiling and asking him what took so long. _

Breathless he arrived at the courts. He surveyed the area. Oishi wasn't there… 

_**Yet! **_

_Oishi wasn't there YET! He was going to be there. He was. Eiji sat down on a bench on the side of the court. He'd just wait for Oishi to show up and then they could warm up together. Hours passed, many people showed up, a few asked if he wanted to play but he told them he was waiting for someone. It steadily began to get dark. The sun finally set and the stars came. Eiji stood up and wandered over to where the controls for the lights were. He turned them on. Oishi wouldn't be able to find him in the dark. He walked back to the bench and pulled out his racket and took his position by the net. He looked back over his shoulder. Still no Oishi. After ten minutes of crouching down in position Eiji finally sat down on the court holding his racket like a security blanket. Where was Oishi? Why was he so late?_

Because he's dead_. Came the pestering little voice in his mind. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. Oishi wasn't dead… was he?_

_He didn't remember falling asleep. He woke to a policeman standing over him with a worried look on his face._

"_Kid? How long have you been here?" asked the officer. Eiji sat up and looked around. Then he remembered what happened. He was at the courts waiting for Oishi. He clutched his racket closer to his chest. Oishi still wasn't there. Eiji turned to look at the officer._

"_He's not dead... Oishi's not dead? Right?" he asked the officer pleadingly. _

"_What's your name kid?" asked the Officer not answering Eiji's hysterical questions. _

"_Kikumaru Eiji… I'm looking for Oishi Shuichiro? Have you seen him?" asked Eiji. The officer stood._

"_No. I haven't seen him… Do you think you can stand?" asked the officer offering a hand to Eiji. Eiji took one hand off his racket and placed it in the officer's grasp. He found himself pulled up off the ground, only to have his legs collapse underneath him. He looked up sheepishly at the officer._

"_I guess I can't…" The officer gave Eiji a sad smile and gently picked the young man up bridal style. _

"_Do you live around here?" asked the officer as he began to leave the courts._

"_Wait! I've gotta wait for Oishi! He promised to meet me here!" said Eiji. _

"_Kid, it's six in the morning… he's not coming," said the Officer pityingly. _

"_He is!" said Eiji forcefully. "Mom was lying! He's not dead! He'll be here!" _

"_Is that your bag?" asked the officer nodding to Eiji's tennis bag on the bench. Eiji nodded slowly. The officer walked over and placed Eiji down on the bench and hefted the bag over his shoulder, observing, luckily, that the bag had a phone number on it, because he didn't seem to be getting anywhere questioning the young man._

"_Wait! Where are you taking my bag!" asked Eiji hysterically. _

"_I'm taking you to Headquarters-"_

"_I haven't broken any laws! I'm just waiting for my friend!" _

"_We're just gonna call your parents,"_

"_But I left my phone on the sidewalk… Mom was lying… so I left the phone… but she wasn't lying was she… Oishi's really dead. He didn't meet me," said Eiji slowly dissolving into tears. Deciding that this was as good a time as any, the officer scooped Eiji back up into his arms. This time Eiji didn't protest, he just kept silently crying and clutching his racket to his chest as if it was the only thing he had left. _

_The journey to Headquarters took no time at all. Eiji was now sitting in the officer's chair wrapped in a large fluffy blanket clutching his racket. He was pale and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. He was looking at everything but seeing nothing at all. All the female officers were cooing over the poor young man. Asking him inane questions like was he okay? Did he want anything else? It was obvious, at least to the officer that brought him back, that the only think Eiji wanted to was to hear was that his friend wasn't dead and that his mother was lying. The Officer had immediately called the number on the kid's bag to be greeted with and equally hysterical woman asking him if he was Eiji. The officer quickly told the woman that Eiji was not injured or in trouble just that he had found the boy sleeping on the tennis courts in the park. Before informing her that her boy was now sitting in Headquarters and that she should come pick him up. _

_About ten minutes later the woman came crashing into headquarters followed by a man who he could only assume was her husband and about six more children, all older than the boy he had found. _

"_Eiji!" she cried spotting her son. Eiji turned to look at her._

"_M-mom?" he asked, it was the first thing he had said since the courts. "… You were lying? Right?… Please say you were lying!" he asked, his eyes gaining emotion back. The woman let out a loud sob and hugged her son. _

"_Eiji baby… don't ever scare mommy like that again… I was worried you'd gone and killed yourself…" sobbed the woman. _

"_But-"_

"_OISHI IS DEAD!" came the forceful yell as she pulled away from her son angrily. "He's not coming to meet you for tennis," she said grasping his face in her hand so the young man couldn't look away. "He's dead. You have to accept that." Said the woman._

"_NO!" yelled Eiji just as vehemently. "OISHI'S NOT DEAD! YOU'RE LYING!" the woman then smacked the young man across the face. She had tears in her eyes as Eiji looked up at her shocked. Disentangling one hand from his racket to place it against his now bright red cheek. Ironically enough it was the same place Oishi had hit him in their one and only serious fight. The woman pulled him to her chest again. Eiji looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of his family for the first time._

"_D-dad?" he croaked as if asking if it was real. The man handed him a newspaper, specifically an article about a young college student being the victim of a hit and run by a drunk driver a couple of nights ago. _

"_Eiji," began the man softly. "Oishi's been dead for four days." _

"_It can't be true… Oishi's not dead…"_

"_He is son… He is, and no amount of questioning the truth is going to bring him back."_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT.

This is the shortest chapter

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Eiji looked up at the sound of a new voice. Fuji was now speaking, and apparently had been for a while.

"Oishi was a good man. One of the best I know. He always took care of everyone and I am eternal grateful to him for that. Especially for watching over my friend when I couldn't," said Fuji meeting Eiji's eyes. Of course Fuji would have been the first to spot him. Noticing Fuji's gaze, the rest of the regulars in the first row looked back over their shoulder's to spot Eiji. Eiji turned away; he couldn't stand any more pity filled smiles.

"I'll never forget the first time I saw the Golden pair perform," said Fuji attracting all attention back to him. "I say perform, because that's what they did, they didn't play they preformed. I was always stunned to watch them. I've never seen two people that were more in sync with each other. I've seen them have entire philosophical, well as least as philosophical it can get with Eiji, discussions in a single glance."

"My first impression of Oishi I gotta tell you wasn't much. I didn't like him, he seemed stuck up, boring, and he was always hanging around with ice prince Tezuka. I thought there was no way he'd have an actual personality. Then I got to know him. Oishi had a heart of gold, he had an easy laugh, and whenever he started to laugh you had to join him. He was always mothering everyone, but it was nice, it was just so Oishi."

"The one thing that is regrettable is the fact that he just couldn't sing." Smiled Fuji. The front row smiled with him remembering all too well the numerous karaoke adventures.

"But he was always a fun guy to be around and I'll never forget him," said Fuji going to sit back down. There was a moment of silence in which all of them looked to Eiji expectantly. He met their gazes wide-eyed. What could he possibly say about Oishi? Luckily Echizen saved him. The younger man stood and went to the podium. There was a murmur through the crowd of Oishi's college friends. What on earth was tennis superstar Echizen Ryoma doing at Oishi's funeral?

"I had to withdraw from an important tournament for this…" he began apathetically. It seemed to agitate some of Oishi's college friends.

"But I suppose its worth is for Oishi-sempai… Like everyone else has said Oishi was a mother. He'd deny it if he was ever asked. But he was always there to help others. Especially with schoolwork. Tezuka buchou and Fuji-sempai were geniuses too, but they would never stoop to actually explaining schoolwork, Tennis? Sure. Schoolwork, not on your life. Oishi-sempai would, and did, on numerous occasions."

"If you ever had a problem Oishi-sempai was always there to help. No matter what it was, or how embarrassing the situation," said Echizen blushing faintly. "It sad that he was just plain blind when it came to himself. Everyone cared about him, he didn't think they did, the number of people here is proof enough of that. He didn't think he was exceptional at Tennis, which he was, I can't tell you how many times I've used his moon volley to win matches. I don't think he had a selfish bone in his body; he'd gladly give you the shirt off his back if you wanted it. That's just the way he was. I don't think there could ever be another person out there that could replace Oishi-sempai, and I don't think I'd want anyone too." Said Echizen before sitting back down.

Next one of Oishi's college friends spoke. "

"Oishi was a quiet guy. Never caused any trouble. Always willing to help. He was a bit of a neat freak, but that was okay. He had some fish, they were all named but he would never tell us their names… I guess I really didn't know Oishi as well as I thought I did. I knew he played tennis, but I never knew he was on a team, I thought it was more of a mild interest, he'd play about once a week to stay in shape. Oishi was a great guy, and I'm always going to miss him."

"I remember the first party I ever dragged Oishi too. He kinda stood in the corner for a while; I swear he looked like he was trying to analyze the party. I asked him what the matter was and you know what he told me. He asked me what we were celebrating. 'You can't have a party without there being something to celebrate, and there can't be a celebration without ice cream, hamburgers and wasabi sushi' I mean what kind of parties had this guy been too?" said his friend in a perfect imitation of Oishi.

"Then he started mothering everyone. Some of the guys were drunk off their asses and he just calmly took away their drinks and scolded them for drinking. Then it was the funniest thing to have him drive everyone home. Apparently he hadn't driven in a long time. We got pulled over for drunk driving. The officer was confused to see that the one driving wasn't drunk, just awful at it." Said the man with a laugh, he then frowned.

"It's just not right… If I ever find that drunk…" growled the man as he was pushed away from the podium by Oishi's roommate.

"Thanks Jiro… Well, in case you didn't know, I've been Oishi's roommate for all three years he was in college… It's been weird this last week, not having Oishi in the room… It just felt really empty."

"Me and Oishi were close, I'd dare say I was his best friend, if I didn't know the spot was already filled… Oishi was a great guy. Everything, everyone has already said he was. But I was allowed to see a side of him that few others at college got to see. The Oishi I got to see was fun loving, filled with mischief and was not above bending the rules a little bit, he was still too respectful to actually break them, but he'd bend them till they were ready to snap. He was always laughing and smiling. He was never dull and always had interesting stories to tell. The Oishi I saw was always like that, but every other Sunday he'd be even happier. That's when he'd go and meet up with his real best friend, that's when he'd get to play tennis."

"When I first met Oishi I was confused that he had so many rackets and tennis balls. Then he showed me all these albums filled with photos of his tennis days in middle school and high school. He also had tons of news clippings about games and tournaments that he'd attended… Oishi was teaching me how to play tennis. He was a good teacher. I've been learning it for just about three years now. Sometimes I would go and play with Him and Kikumaru but It was always more fun to just watch them play."

"It always confused me that he never joined the team at college, he was definitely good enough for it. He didn't tell me until later that'd it be too weird to play without his team, who I assume is you guys," said Oishi's roommate Kiyoshi nodded towards the Seigaku regulars in the first row. He paused for a moment seeming to be looking for Eiji, then he saw him and gave a relieved smile before continuing.

"I'm… I'm really going to miss him… There will never be another person like Oishi, not in a million years." Said Kiyoshi before joining his friends. Finally Eiji knew it was his turn. He would have to speak. He stood shakily and walked towards the podium. Choking on his own breath for a moment when he stopped in front of the coffin. Fuji gave his hand a quick squeeze of encouragement before he gave Eiji a light push towards the podium. Eiji gulped, letting his shaking hands grip the podium much like Tezuka had done.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

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"Hello… everyone…" he began shakily.

"Hi Eiji-niisan!" said Oishi's little sister encouragingly. Eiji gave her a slight smile and relaxed a little.

"I don't know what else there's left to say… everyone covered Oi-Oishi… pretty good." Said Eiji his voice hitching at Oishi's name.

"… It still hasn't quite sunk in…" said Eiji gesturing helpless at the coffin when his words failed him.

"Like Tezuka-buchou, when my mom first called me I thought it was just some joke… It just wasn't possible that Oi-oi-oi… he… could be d-dead," said Eiji failing his attempt to say Oishi's name and catching again at the word dead.

"In fact, I had been on my way to meet him… I was so sure that'd he'd be there ready to scold me for being late" said Eiji with a halfhearted chuckle, which only a few returned.

"I stayed there all day… and all night according the police, they weren't real happy" he gave another pained smile as he scratched the back of his head embarrassed.

"He never showed up…" Eiji paused looking over at the coffin once more. "I, I, uh…. I thought about not coming today… just because he didn't show up at the courts like he was supposed too…I was gonna get him back for making me wait… but then I realized how stupid that would have been… and that he probably would have been disappointed in me… that's the one thing I couldn't stand… I could care less when Oishi was annoyed with me… heck I even cared less the one time he was actually angry at me," said Eiji unconsciously bringing his hand up to the place where Oishi had hit him before continuing.

"Because, well, because I knew he didn't really mean it… It's just the disappointment was too hard to deal with, like I had let him down… It was always a thousand times worse than losing a match..."

"… He was always mothering me," said Eiji beginning to gain some confidence, it appeared he had the audience hanging on his every word, and there was no more pity in their faces.

"He would always tell me to wear a coat, or not go outside with wet hair… He was always there to make sure all my cuts had band-aids after practice, that I hadn't twisted, bruised or sprained anything during practice… This one time he took me to the nurse's office because of a paper cut" there was a chuckle from everyone present

"… He was always looking out for me… always keeping our fan club from permanently mauling us… I remember this one time… He pulled the fire alarm just so we could escape from them, He did! not me. Good little law abiding Oi-Oishi pulled the alarm." Said Eiji with his first real grin in a week, as he was able to finally say Oishi's name.

"He spent a lot of time helping my with my school work and helping me study, I always tried to return the favor, but I was more of a distraction than an actual help…" said Eiji trailing off as he remember three Sunday's ago. When they were supposed to meet, but Oishi said he had to study.

_Eiji had gone over immediately after the phone call determined to help Oishi study._

"_Okay! So what's streptococcus mutants?" prompted Eiji. He was sitting on Oishi's bed while Oishi was sitting at his desk. Oishi turned and grinned at his doubles partner._

"_It's streptococcus mutans," he said shaking his head. His roommate had long since left to go study in a quieter environment leaving Oishi on his own to deal with his well meaning, but hyperactive best friend._

"… _So what is it?" asked Eiji after a moment. Oishi stood up and joined Eiji on the bed. _

"_It's a bacteria that causes tooth decay," offered Oishi. Eiji dropped the book as if he had been scalded. _

"_Is it contagious!" He asked eyes wide as he reached for his bag, hoping to find his spare toothbrush and tube of toothpaste he carried with him everywhere. Oishi had laughed grabbing his friend around the waist as Eiji had leaped for his bag. They'd ended up so that Oishi had his head in Eiji's lap and Eiji was pressed against the head board, hardly comfortable to a normal person, but Eiji was flexible and used to it. It also wasn't an awkward position for them either, it happened far too often for it to be awkward anymore. Eiji looked down at Oishi clearly awaiting an answer. Oishi smiled up at him._

"_No, it's not contagious, and I don't think _you_ could _ever_ get it," he said with a laugh. Eiji seemed happy with the answer and took the book back from Oishi and continued on to the next question._

_After a few more hours both had grown tired of studying and Oishi had grown tired in general. For the last few minutes he'd been very sleepily answering Eiji's questions._

"_What is a feverous patella?" He didn't get a response. He moved the book so he could see Oishi's face. He was sound asleep and looked calm, relaxed and cute. Eiji knew he was lucky. Oishi relaxed around very few people, in fact he only truly, completely relaxed around three people, his roommate Kiyoshi, Tezuka and Eiji himself. _

_Eiji had long since accepted that their friendship was far closer than most, it was probably closer than best friends were. And a few months ago that though had driven Eiji to the conclusion that he was head over heals in love with his doubles partner Oishi Shuichiro. Seeing Oishi like this he just couldn't resist. He slowly leaned over his partners sleeping face and gently kissed him on the lips. _

"_I love you Oishi," he murmured to him. Oishi opened his eyes slightly and Eiji pulled back bright red._

"…_Eiji?" _

"_It's nothing! Go back to sleep" said Eiji quickly trying to hide his blush. Oishi nodded sleepily. Eiji slipped Oishi's head off his lap. He covered the taller man in covers and leaned over once more to kiss Oishi's worry free forehead._

"_Sweet Dreams Oishi," he whispered. _

"_With you here they always are," murmured Oishi half asleep. Eiji blushed furiously and quickly left the dorm room._

Eiji blinked and found himself staring at his hands, he realized he was blushing furiously. He looked up to see his audience watching him confused.

"Why isn't Eiji-niisan saying anything? And why is he all red?" Oishi's little sister asked Oishi's mother.

"Shh, that's impolite." She scolded her daughter. Eiji relaxed realizing that he hadn't actually said anything that he'd been remembering. He was still bright red but finally remembered what he had been saying before the memory.

"Yeah, I wasn't much help studying, but I did learn lots of things from Oishi. For example, did you know that streptococcus mutans is a bacterium that causes tooth decay? It is! Oishi told me and Oishi's never wrong," said Eiji. His audience looked stunned.

"Hey, I'm not as dumb as I look… well at least Oishi always told me I wasn't… He was always really nice to me… He was the only person I know that could stand to be around me for more than a couple of hours… Sometimes I considered getting his head looked at for that reason alone," said Eiji smiling and relaxing, now that he was up here the words were coming easier, they just wouldn't stop.

"I'm rambling again aren't I." Said Eiji. "… Oishi wouldn't have said anything… he was that kind of guy. He would sit there and listen… Sometimes I felt like I was talking to a wall but then he was smile or say something and I knew he was really listening to me… few people ever really listened to me, it was a really nice feeling."

"Oishi is my best friend and always will be… It's just really weird to think about not having him around… I keep expecting him to pop up and tell me that I need to go practice, or asking to see my newest injury and suggesting that we should go practice the Australian formation again."

"I remember this one time. Oishi was being really stubborn. He decided that the only way to get better at our game was to be able to predict my every move before I even knew what I was going to do… He made me wear those bear bells on my shoes so he could listen to different way the bells rang so he knew where I was going to go before I moved… It was actually kind of embarrassing… but then Oishi wore them too so I could learn… and then it wasn't so bad." Smiled Eiji.

"I have a million Oishi memories… numerous sleepovers, trips to the get ice cream or burgers with Momo and Ochibi," said Eiji brightly as Echizen glared at the mention of his less than masculine nickname. "I remember non-tournament Saturdays where Oishi would let me drag him all over the city looking at pet stores… I remember how he let me claim one of his fishes because I wasn't allowed to have pets… I remember spending hours playing tennis or video games or just talking with Oishi… I remember the time I was running away from and he let me hide out as his house… that didn't work as well as I planned because Mom knew exactly where I went and came to retrieve me only an hour later… I remember how on the night before the first day of school every year I would sneak into Oishi's house and then drag him out of bed so we could spent the last moments of summer together exploring the city and just causing mayhem in general." He clapped a hand to his mouth and he looked over at Oishi's parents.

"I wasn't supposed to say _that_!" Everyone grinned and laughed. "… He always said that I brought out the kid in him, but that wasn't true, Oishi was a bigger kid than me at times, far too often for me to have been the only reason to bring it out,"

"…Oishi told me that I should never tell anyone about this, but I think you guys need to know…" said Eiji seriously.

"Oishi had a criminal record!" he said finishing with a dramatic gasp. The audience looked stunned and then Tezuka laughed. Eiji smiled, there was nothing to be afraid of, and talking was actually making it better.

"The night before our senior year of high school we decided instead of exploring we were going to cause some mayhem." Said Eiji with an almost evil grin.

"So we decided to start in the subway. We got on the subways and rode every single one that night… we started earlier than 3 that morning, the only time we ever did… We ran through all the cars singing as loud as we could just to annoy everyone. Then finally we stopped around four and went to Seigaku elementary and climbed to the top of big toy and decided that we weren't done singing. So we sang some more. And as Fuji already mentioned Oishi really couldn't sing… but it was okay, because I couldn't either… well it was sorta okay… because about a half an hour later we were arrested for disturbing the peace… We got to ride in a police car with the lights and sirens on it was really fun… that's why we actually missed the first half of the first day… neither one of us wanted to call our families, and we gave the police fake names so they couldn't figure out who we were…" Eiji stopped to smile at the memory. "I was George Washington and Oishi said he was Abraham Lincoln, he told me they were American presidents, we'd seen it in a movie, I think it was some American film we rented once… I looked them up later… it's kind of funny. Oishi fit his president but I was nothing like mine," smiled Eiji.

"So around lunchtime I was hungry and we decided on someone we could finally call… We called Tezuka-Buchou and he finally came and bailed us out of jail… It would have been funny to see the look on his face when he got the call… I made Oishi talk to him, cause I didn't want a hundred thousand laps and if Oishi talked to him we would probably only get a thousand." Smiled Eiji. His smile faltered as he saw the coffin once more.

"… I'm really gonna miss him…" He said finally before he slowly returned to his seat.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

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He really did feel better after having talked to all the people, after recounting all the numerous adventure they had. Eiji noticed that the man in the suit came back. He gave some sort of closing statement. Then to Eiji's surprise he opened half of the coffin, and people started lining up to pay their last respect to Oishi. Eiji found himself at the end of line, joined shortly by the rest of Seigaku regular and their manager Inui.

All too soon they found themselves in front of the coffin. Most of them silently said their goodbyes, some talking to him, some watching him as if they were expecting him to move. Echizen's goodbye was particularly memorable.

"Hey Oishi-sempai, you better keep watching over all of us…" said Echizen, they all smiled. "… Pay particular attention to the next Wimbledon, I'm gonna win that for you Oishi-sempai, and even better I'm gonna win it with your moon-volley." Said Echizen pulling the bill of his hat lower over his face, presumable to hide the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes. Apparently he was taking it as bad as the others were.

Before he knew it Eiji found that he was the last to say goodbye to Oishi. Fuji gave his hand another encouraging squeezed before he took a couple of steps back to stand with the rest of the team. Eiji hesitantly took a step forward. Oishi was smiling. He was calm and relaxed, it just didn't fit, and he'd been smiling and relaxed when he was killed. Just what had he been thinking about? Where had he been going? Why had he been going wherever it was? Eiji did know Oishi normal schedule and had concluded early on that his friend had no reason to be by a road at that time of night.

"What were you doing?" Eiji whispered to Oishi. Oishi didn't answer and suddenly Eiji was very angry at his friend.

"Just what do you think you were doing!" he demanded slightly louder. His team looked up at him slightly worried.

"I haven't beaten you yet," said Eiji quietly. "You said that we would play doubles until I could beat you! You said I would be stuck with you until I could beat you!" said Eiji his voice getting louder, still only enough that his team heard, but they already knew the story.

"I haven't beaten you yet!" this time it attracted more attention. Oishi's college friends looked over a little agitated hearing the way their friend, although he couldn't hear it, was being address. The young red headed man sounded angry and they didn't like it.

"OISHI! YOU GOD DAMN JERK!" yelled Eiji, as angry as he'd ever been in his life, before turning on his heal and running out of the funeral home as fast as he could. The Seigaku team looked confused. They knew Eiji wore his heart on his sleeve but to go from being okay to _that_ angry in a matter of minutes was a bit of a surprise, maybe there was some truth to his statement that Oishi was his emotional stability.

Oishi's college friends taking offense at Eiji slander of their friend jumped into action and began to go after the red head. Kaidoh and Inui, looking rather intimidating, stopped them at the door. Inui and Kaidoh were joined shortly by the rest of the regulars, who didn't really understand what had happened, knew that there was no way that Eiji actually meant what he said about Oishi.

It was actually Oishi's roommate Kiyoshi that ended the confrontation.

"Jiro! Guys! Calm down!" They college boys backed off slightly. "You guys may not know Eiji real well, but you know me, and believe me…. There's probably a ton of stuff going on in his head right now… I can tell he's having a hard time with this, probably harder than anyone else… Kikumaru didn't mean what he said," said Kiyoshi.

"There's no way he could have," he murmured, as he looked the way that Eiji ran. "… Guys, they were best friends, well actually I have my suspicions that they were infinitely more than best friends, but-" said Kiyoshi blushing lightly. All present looked slightly confused. Kiyoshi looked at the Seigaku team.

"You mean you guys didn't know? I thought this level of relationship had been going on for a LONG time," said Kiyoshi.

"…Well," began Fuji after a moment, "the sexual tension between them has always been almost palatable…" said Fuji, Tezuka nodded his agreement.

"There was a 97.4 chance that they would be lovers before the end of college," Inui informed. Momo looked horrified.

"All this time I thought you were taking Tennis data!"

"There are many types of data," concluded Inui pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I thought it was obvious." Stated Echizen coolly. "I mean, come one, the 'Golden Pair,' " He said using finger quotes.

"America has corrupted you," said Taka. Fuji got an evil grin on his face and turned towards the unsuspecting Kiyoshi.

"What exactly happened to make you realize it?"

"Um… well I was Oishi's roommate for three years… he had a tendency to talk in his sleep…" mumbled Kiyoshi turning bright red.

"Wait. You mean 'Eiji' is a guy! And that was him!" asked Jiro looking surprised. Kiyoshi nodded. Fuji smiled.

"There must have been more evidence?" he grinned.

"well, Kikumaru spent the night numerous times-" at the wide eyed looks of the other man, Kiyoshi quickly backtracked. "Not like _that!_ Like a sleep over. Like little kids… It's just they never seemed to be awkward around each other, they had no problem sleeping in the same bed, sharing clothes, the bathroom… well, I suppose it just felt like they were an old married couple" finished Kiyoshi lamely. "I always felt like I was a voyeur in my own room." Kiyoshi blushed and Fuji opened his mouth to ask another question. Tezuka nudged him and gave him a look that plainly said knock it off.

"Shouldn't you be going after Kikumaru right now?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Fuji's expression sobered immediately.

"… I can't buchou… the only person that could go after Eiji right now is Oishi…" The reality of that statement hit the group hard. Fuji was right. No one could deal with Eiji when he was like this, except for Oishi, and Oishi wasn't here to fix it.

The college friends and the Seigaku regular split up. Fuji surveyed the scene around him. Everyone was dressed in black, which came as no surprise. They were all standing in groups talking in hushed tones, mostly about Oishi, remembering the good times, commenting on what others had said about him, and even a few groups talking about Eiji's latest outburst.

He looked to the corner to see The Kikumarus and the Oishis standing together and talking. The two mothers were hugging each other and consoling each other. He supposed that Oishi's death had hit the Kikumarus just as bad as it hit the Oishis. Throughout the years the two boys were rarely seen without each other and both families had practically adopted the other's son. The fathers were talking quietly. Eiji's sisters were weeping and hugging Oishi's little sister. Eiji's brothers seem to be caught between consoling the women or chasing after the baby of the family.

The man in the suit came back and announced that there would be a wake at the Oishi residence and that close friends of the family were invited there, before shuffling all the mourners out of the funeral home. Fuji found himself holding his breath as he watched the man close the lid of Oishi's coffin. He wasn't the only one. The Oishis and the Kikumarus, the Seigaku regulars and Oishi's college friends all seemed to be doing the same thing. As it finally clicked shut the two mothers wailed. Fuji could help but see the symbolism in the act. Closing the lid on Oishi's life. He found himself thinking that he was glad Eiji wasn't here to see. He wasn't quite sure how his friend would have reacted but he had a feeling that Eiji would have beat up the poor man to keep him from shutting the lid.

A few minutes later found a much smaller number of mourners in the Oishi household, and the Oishis themselves moving about the group playing the perfect hosts, even in this time of great sorrow.

Mrs. Oishi came up to the group of Seigaku regulars.

"Do you know where Eiji went?" she asked. Most shook their heads.

"… Do you think he's coming back here?" asked Mrs. Oishi.

"I honestly don't know," said Fuji. "Did you need him for something?"

"No…well… Shuichiro, he, he left Eiji a note." Said Mrs. Oishi.

"A note?"

"Yes… His roommate tells me that Shuichiro was on his way to visit Eiji when… it happened… well the doctors found a note to Eiji in his hand."

"Did he write it whi-" began Tezuka looking horrified at the thought of his friend lying in pain on the side of the road using the last of his life to write a note to Eiji.

"No… The doctors assure me it was written long before…just, it'll probably be a while before he comes to see us… he can be such a foolish boy at times, he's always welcome here…well, could you please just give him Shuichiro's note" said Mrs. Oishi pressing a folded letter into Fuji's hand before hurrying off to see to other guests.

"… Why do I feel like I'm missing some important detail," sighed Tezuka.

"I don't like not knowing what's going on," frowned Fuji.

"We just have to wait for Kikumaru-sempai to fill in the details," said Momo.

"… or not…" said Fuji holding up the note.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

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Eiji ran he didn't know where he was headed; he just needed to get away. If he could run away from the truth that would make it all better. Finally breathless he found himself at a very familiar place. He looked up it was sunset and he was standing right in front of that stupid dumpster. He closed his eyes and he could see Oishi and him hitting balls back and forth against the dumpster. He could see them sitting on the top, talking about everything and nothing.

"Oishi you jerk…" he mumbled sadly. He punched the dumpster. Before he leaned against it and slowly slid to the ground crying. What was he supposed to do now? It was Oishi's job to come and find him when he was like this. Oishi was supposed to show up and make everything better just like every other time. But this time he couldn't.

That was another thing that had been bugging him. Oishi always knew when Eiji was sad or in trouble. He even knew when Eiji sneezed. So why? Why hadn't he known Oishi was in danger? In all the movies lovers knew when their partner was in trouble and came rushing in on a white horse. So why hadn't he known. According to the paper Oishi had been killed at 9:30 pm three days after they had last studied at Oishi's dorm. Eiji knew exactly what he'd been doing at that moment. He'd been playing video games with his roommate. He hadn't felt a thing.

What was wrong with him? Had he not loved Oishi enough? Was Oishi just too good for him? Had Oishi been killed to protect him from Eiji? If that was the case shouldn't it have been Eiji himself who died? It didn't make sense. Nothing added up.

He hoped Oishi, as a ghost, hadn't been watching his own funeral. Oishi would have been mad at him for telling all his secrets, telling about the time they'd been arrested. Oishi would have been hurt hearing Eiji call him a jerk. He really hoped Oishi wasn't a ghost! Being a ghost meant you had unfinished business. He didn't want Oishi to have unfinished business no matter how badly he wished he could see him again.

After a few hours later he felt cold, a cold that matched the numb he'd been feeling since his mother had called.

"Mom'll be mad if she has to pick me up from the police head quarters again," mumbled Eiji standing. He looked over the city all those twinkling lights.

"… it's pretty isn't it?" he remarked, before realizing that Oishi wasn't there. He gave a wry smile at where Oishi would have been.

"Yeah, I know, you're not there… Don't worry I won't make anyone worry over me anymore," sighed Eiji before heading back to his house.

Unfortunately that's not where his feet took him. He stopped for the second time today and found himself looking up at a familiar sight. It was dark out but it was obvious the wake was still going on in the Oishi household. He gave a sad smile as he looked up to see Oishi's room was the only one in the house without a light on. He didn't really want to talk to anyone right now. He gave a small smile, and with practiced ease shimmed up the drainpipe to Oishi's partly opened bedroom window.

Everything looked absolutely the same. Oishi's bed was made perfectly as usual. His fish watched Eiji their mouths opening and closing hungrily at him. Without thinking he reached into Oishi's desk drawer and pulled the fish food out and gave the fishes a couple pinches of it before returning it. The eagerly ate of the food, and ignored Eiji as he made fish faces back at them from Oishi's bed.

Oishi's desk was neat an organized, his books all in alphabetical order. The clothes in his closet were color-coded, shoes all in a perfect line. Eiji gave a smile, sometimes Oishi could be a little too organized.

He jumped at the sound of the door opening. It was Oishi's little sister.

"Eiji-niisan? What are you doing up here?" she asked him. He gave her a smile.

"… I was just feeding the fish…." He said lamely after searching around the room for a while. Why had he come up here?

"Oh… that's why I came up here too. I decided that mom and dad would probably forget of Shuichiro's fish, and I didn't want them to get hungry." She said. Eiji smiled at her and sat back down on Oishi's bed.

"Everyone's worried about you. You should come down and say hi," she said grabbing Eiji's hand and dragging him downstairs.

"Mommy! I found Eiji-niisan!" she said happily. Most activity in the room stopped.

"Where was he?" asked Mrs. Oishi smiling and playing along with her daughter.

"He was feeding Shuichiro's fishes!" she said happily. Mrs. Oishi smiled sadly at Eiji and held out her arms. Eiji met her eyes, and understood everything as easily as if it had been Oishi himself. He quickly collapsed into her arms. She understood everything that was going on, she was going to make it better.

"It's okay Eiji," she said petting head, just like Oishi always did. His arrival had apparently created a little bit of a scene. The Kikumarus were relieved that their son actually returned tonight, they were never sure if he was actually going to come home every night. "Everything's going to be okay." Eiji couldn't help it anymore; he began to cry silently into Mrs. Oishi's shoulder.

The Seigaku regulars breathed a sigh of relieve, Eiji hadn't done anything stupid. A new side of Eiji seemed to come to light because of Oishi's death.

Tezuka seeing the distraction quickly stole the note for Fuji's grasp. Most had been opposed to opening the note, and luckily they had won, it's contents was still secret.

"Kikumaru." Said Tezuka walking over to the pair as activity went back to normal in the room. Eiji looked up.

"T-tezuka-buchou?" asked Eiji confused. He held out the note for Eiji.

"Eiji honey," said Mrs. Oishi pulling away from Eiji for a moment so she could look him in the eyes. "Shuichiro left you a note."

"Wh-"

"No. He wrote it before…" she trailed off, and then decided that Eiji needed to hear the truth rather than be babied. "He… he was going to see you."

"M-me?" croaked Eiji looking from the note back to Mrs. Oishi.

"Then… its my fault-"

"NO!" said Mrs. Oishi forcefully. "No, it's not your fault. It was just… bad luck," said Mrs. Oishi choosing her words carefully.

"Take the note Kikumaru." Said Tezuka stonily.

"…Did you read it?"

"Of course not." Said Tezuka angry to have his honor insulted. "It's addressed to you," he said somewhat kinder. He'd been thinking about it. It did make sense, to know that his closest friend had been in love with his doubles partner. He really should have seen it a while ago. He had a feeling that a confession of some sort was in the letter. Oishi wasn't the type of person to go running around the city at night, well after hearing Eiji's speech, maybe Oishi was the type of person, but he wouldn't have gone without Eiji.

Eiji hesitantly reached a hand out to take the note. He sat back down on the couch.

"I'll just leave you alone for a little while," said Mrs. Oishi standing and giving Eiji an affectionate pat on the head before returning to her rounds and taking her daughter with her. Tezuka too gave Eiji his space for the moment. Although he joined the group of regulars, and then stood nearby, they were all dying to know what was in the letter.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

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Eiji carefully unfolded the letter. It was indeed from Oishi. He'd recognize that neat and precise handwriting anywhere.

His hands shook as he read the letter. There was no way this could truly be happening.

The Seigaku regulars watched him. There was an astonishing array of emotions crossing the young acrobat's face. He was crying again. Fuji started to go over to comfort his friend, but Tezuka's hand on his shoulder stopped him mid-step.

"This is something between Oishi and Kikumaru alone. If he feels like telling us he will, but if not, you will not pester and/or manipulate him to get the details."

_Eiji,_

_I know this probably a cowardly way to do this but, I wrote this letter… well actually this is about the 600th draft, I think know I'm beginning to drive Kiyoshi nuts. _

_I'm just having a hard time putting into words what I'm feeling. Eiji, you've been my best friend since as long as I can remember, and I don't want to remember the times before, because they were most assuredly bleak without you there._

_I'm planning on just leaving this letter at your door and running. Lame I know. I just want you to get your feelings straight before I see you next. _

_I have a confession to make. I was awake the whole time we were studying. I know you kissed me, I know you said I love you. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me. _

_Eiji, I've loved you for a long time, such a long time. I never told you because I figured there was never a chance that you could love me too. That's why I want to know if it was real. Do you really love me too? I know I'm probably a new obsession for you, but I'd be fine with that. Even If you're not sure, I'd be willing to wait forever for you. _

_This sounds like something directly out of those sappy romance movies you like. But know this now. I will never stop loving you Kikumaru Eiji. _

_Love love love love, (it feels so good to be able to finally write that word)_

_Oishi_

Eiji's hands shook. Shock evident on his face, then there was a smile and more tears. No one really knew what was happening. Eiji threw his head back and began to laugh quietly clutching the note to his chest much like he had done to his racket a few days ago. He carefully folded the note and stuck it in his zipper pocket, all the while laughing, crying and smiling.

"Eiji?" asked Fuji hesitantly. "Are you okay?" He asked sitting down on the couch next to Eiji, the rest of the team soon following him.

"Oishi's an idiot," he mumbled smiling and using the back of his sleeve to wipe away some tears, only to have them be replaced a moment later. Not quite the response Fuji was hoping for. Kiyoshi came to join the group at the couch.

"Kiyoshi? Thank you" Eiji said leaning forward to hug the other man around the waist

"He finally told you." It was a statement not a question. "I had nothing to do with it… It was all his idea." Said Kiyoshi smiling sadly and patting Eiji on the head. "I just feel sorry-"

"Don't be."

"What?" asked Kiyoshi confused.

"I said don't be. Don't be sorry. I know the truth. Oishi knows the truth. There are no regrets… Besides, it was there when we were younger… " Sighed Eiji wistfully. "I can imagine how our life would have been, and it would have been wonderful… but it's okay. We're the Golden Pair… we'll meet up again," said Eiji with a smile.

"Later!" said Kiyoshi in alarm. "You promise me you'll meet up again _later_!" he said forcefully grabbing Eiji by the shoulder and forcing the shorter man. Eiji looked up.

"Wish I could say the thought hadn't crossed my mind," mumbled Eiji. Kiyoshi looked angry and gave Eiji a shake.

"I promise. Later." He said louder. Kiyoshi smiled.

"Oishi would have killed me if I let you do anything that stupid." Said Kiyoshi. The college boys waved at Kiyoshi.

"I have to go now Eiji. Remember your promise… and come and visit, you're my friend too," smiled Kiyoshi giving the acrobat a brief hug goodbye before he left with the other college guys.

"Eiji?" asked Momo. Eiji turned and smiled.

"I'm fine… or at least I will be." Said Eiji leaning back against the couch a small, but real smile on his face.

"… what did the note say?" asked Fuji. Eiji blushed and sat up.

"Well I suppose you guys have a right to know. It was just Oishi being stupid."

"How so?" asked Tezuka a bit confused as to how anyone could consider his friend stupid.

"Oh, he just was blind to the fact that I was in love with him, am still in love with him." Smiled Eiji. Taka, Kadioh and Momo looked shocked at the confession. Eiji threw an arm around Momo's shoulders.

"Wanna know a secret Momo?" asked Eiji. Poor Momo sitting right next to Eiji was not the best spot at the moment.

"Uh, sure Kikumaru-sempai," said Momo hesitantly not entirely sure that the redhead wasn't drunk, or insane. Eiji leaned in real close and whispered in Momo's ear.

"He said he loves me too." Momo turned to look into Eiji's smiling face.

"That's great for you," Momo offered unsure of what reaction he was supposed to have.

"No. It's wonderful!" said Eiji happily. "But Oishi and Kiyoshi are mean!" pouted Eiji starting to get slightly hysterical again. "He said he'd wait for me! But he didn't!" He gave another silent sob before collapse on poor Momo who didn't have a clue what to do. It seemed that no one in the group knew what to do. Fuji rubbed Eiji back, and Momo sat perfectly still hoping not to disturb whatever was going on it Eiji's mind. Mrs. Oishi seeing the group came rushing over.

"Eiji? What's wrong?" she asked kneeling in front of Eiji. He gave a strangled sob and collapsed into her arms falling to his knees in front of the couch. Momo was secretly relieved.

"shush. Shush. It's okay," she said rubbing his back and petting his head. In a few moments time Eiji was fast asleep.

"Is he gonna be okay?" asked Momo.

"He'll be just fine now. He finally said goodbye." Said Mrs. Oishi. "He's going to be asleep for a while. Can one of you-" She was cut off by all his teammates jumping forward. "Just put him in Shuichiro's bed for now," she smiled and placed a kiss on Eiji's forehead before handing him over to his teammates. She was sure they would take care of him.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

This is the longest and last chapter… don't worry… or do… there's an epilogue.

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They soon found that it was ridiculously easy to pick up the skinny acrobat. It looked as if he had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Kaidoh easily scooped the older man up. Tezuka, having been the only one in the group, other than Eiji, who had ever been in the Oishi home, lead the way to Oishi's room. They all stood outside the door for a moment, unsure of whether or not they actually wanted to go in. Echizen was the first to move, he boldly opened the door and walked in. The all smiled at the room, it was almost exactly what they expected of Oishi. The fish tank and a teddy bear on Oishi's desk were the only things that seemed out of place. Kaidoh set Eiji down on the bed.

"mmm… Oishi…" he mumbled and hugged the pillow to his chest.

"It's sad," said Fuji sitting down on the bed and brushing Eiji's bangs out of his eyes. "They finally confessed and it was just a little too late." The others nodded, well except for Tezuka.

"You heard what Kikumaru said, he doesn't think it's sad. They both knew, and they probably both knew for a while." Said Tezuka quietly.

"You're right," said Taka. "It's like they were married all through middle school and high school anyways." The others smiled at the thought. They all stood there for a while unsure of what to do next. They were all just soaking in the memories of Oishi.

"I never knew Oishi liked fish…" said Momo.

"I never knew Oishi liked Kikumaru," said Kadioh. They all smiled.

"… it's kind of funny, Oishi had a kitten and fish, they usually don't mix," said Echizen. They all laughed quietly at the idea.

A few minutes later Mrs. Oishi popped her head in.

"Are you boys okay?" she asked. She smiled at the site. Eiji was cuddled up with a pillow on what had been long ago dubbed his side of the bed. Fuji was sitting next to Tezuka on the floor in front of the bed as if they were guarding the younger man. Inui and Taka appeared to be playing a game of Go, they had found the game on the desk. Momo, Kaidoh and Echizen were all glued to the fish tank. Those fish were addicting. She smiled.

"It's funny…" All the boys, well other than Eiji who was asleep, jumped at the sound of her voice. She smiled apologetically.

"Those fish were Oishi's pride and joy. They're very hard to take care of and he's had those since he was five. We didn't think he was responsible enough for a puppy, so we got him some goldfish to prove it to him. He became more interested in fish… I can't tell you how many times I came up here and seen Eiji and Shuichiro mesmerized by those fish. They'd watch them for hours… It really doesn't surprise me that the first thing Eiji did was break into the house to feed Shuichiro's fish," she smiled.

"… Which one is Kikumaru's fish?" asked Echizen curious. Mrs. Oishi smiled and pointed to a bright red and yellow one that was swimming happily through the plants.

"That one. I don't know what he named it though. Shuichiro never thought of naming his fish. Eiji decided that it was mean to not give the fish names, so he named them all… all though, I can tell you that there's a fish named after each one of you,"

"What?" asked Taka now turning his attention to the fish surprised to learn that there was a 'Taka' fish. Mrs. Oishi nodded.

"You'll have to ask Eiji about it in the morning. He claims they all have personalities as well… I just came up to tell you boys that you're more than welcome to stay for the night… The couch pulls out comfy enough to sleep three and we also have a few futons-"

"Would you mind if we all stayed in here?" asked Fuji.  
"All of you?" she asked. She doubted that the cramped room would comfortably sleep all eight boys. They all nodded back to her. "Alright, if that's what you want," she smiled. She then completely entered the room and opened the closet. The young men grinned to see that everything was organized and color coordinated. That was so Oishi. She reached to the back of the closet and pulled out a large well worn gray t-shirt and some PJ bottoms. She went over to the bed and gently shook Eiji awake.

"Eiji? You need to get on your PJs and brush your teeth before bed," said Mrs. Oishi. Eiji nodded sleepily and began to pull off his shirt. She placed a hand on his shoulder effectively stopping his motion.

"Eiji, you have guests, change in the bathroom okay, and brush your teeth while your in there." Eiji who, was for all intents and purposes, was still asleep nodded his comprehension.

"Which toothpaste do I have here?" she gave a smile.

"The strawberry one," He nodded and stumbled across the hall to the bathroom. Mrs. Oishi then walked over to Oishi's desk and picked up the teddy bear and placed it where Eiji had been sleeping.

"It's Eiji's bear," said Mrs. Oishi. "He's always so adorable… I'll bring up the futons in just a moment. Just do me a favor and make sure Oishi doesn't drown attempting brush his teeth in his sleep," smiled Mrs. Oishi. It was nice to have her house filled with boys, it took the sting off the loss. She wiped away the lone tear and went to find the spare futons.

Eiji returned a few minutes later, infinitely more awake.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked surprised to see them all in Oishi's room.

"We're spending the night," said Fuji.

"All of you?" asked Eiji cocking his head to the side. Fuji nodded. Eiji shrugged and walked to the bed. He stopped for a moment biting his lower lip. He then turned around and smiled at the other men before sitting down on his side and hugging his teddy bear. There was an awkward silence. Oddly enough it was Taka that broke the silence.

"What are the fish's names?" he asked. Eiji smiled. "That one is Tezuka-buchou." Said Eiji pointing out a silver fish in the middle of the tank. "That one is Ochibi," said Eiji pointing to the smallest fish.

"Ochibi," muttered Echizen glaring at the fish. He proceeded to show all the regulars which fish they were. Other than Echizen they all seemed to be happy with their fish.

"Kikumaru-sempai?" asked Kaidoh hesitantly as if he was afraid of making the older man hysterical again. "Where's your and Oishi-sempai's fish?" Eiji frowned.

"I'm not made of glass. There's no need to walk on eggshells around me," said Eiji defiantly. "I swear I'm done being hysterical."

The other men almost visibly slouched in relief. That was a small part of the reason they had decided to stay the night. Mostly it was to share memories, and just say one final goodbye to their friend.

"To answer your question, Oishi never let me name a fish after him, so I wouldn't let him name a fish after me, that's why the last two are called Totoro and Sushi" this brought a few grins around.

"… can I ask, why you have a teddy bear and PJs here?" asked Inui. Eiji smiled.

"Hoi! Of course you can ask… I spent practically half my life here. If I wasn't at school or at practice, Oishi and I were either here or at my house… He has PJs and clothes at my house too, and a toothbrush." Then everything fell into awkward silence.

"Nya! Guys, wanna play a game?" asked Eiji. They smiled for a moment noticing that Eiji was finally using those ridiculous words again.

"As long as it's not Karaoke," groaned Momo.

"Fssh…whatever it is I'll beat you" said Kaidoh.

"You're on mamushi!" said Momo.

"It's not that kind of game!" said Eiji. "The memory game!" said Eiji. "Oishi and I used to play this all the time," said Eiji as he bounced over to Oishi's desk and pulled out a well-used spiral notebook.

"The memory game? I don't think I know that one," said Fuji.

"Nya! Fujiko! You don't know the memory game!" asked Eiji clearly shocked. He bounced back over to the bed. "Well you see, you think of a really good memory and then you write it down!" said Eiji happily.

"So kind of like a diary for funny times?" asked Fuji. Eiji nodded.

"For example…" began Eiji flipping through the pages. He stopped to look at one, turned bright red and then flipped a few pages after, ignoring the grins and questions from his teammates, well actually it was mainly just Momo and Fuji who were teasing him.

"Hoi! Here's a good one… Oishi wrote this one! 'We were played doubles today in the park. An old lady walked up to us, she thought Eiji was a girl,' " the other men all grinned, every single one of them having mistaken Eiji for a girl at some point in time.

" 'She told Eiji that it was highly improper for a young lady not to be wearing a tennis skirt. Then she sat down to watch us play for a little while. She was appalled to see Eiji doing his acrobatics. And then called Eiji a scarlet woman before running off, telling all the little girls in the area to stay away from the slut in boys clothes'" said Eiji bursting into laughter along with the rest of the regulars.

"I've got one," said Tezuka, surprising the rest of the group. They hadn't expected him to be first.

"I'll write it down Tezuka-buchou!" said Eiji happily reading his pen.

"There was this one time, about a week before middle school started, before we both met the rest of you… It was a particularly warm day and Oishi decided that instead of playing tennis that, we were going to go to the pool instead. So he woke me up at seven in the morning to drag me out of bed and down to the public school," seeing the disbelieving looks on the other's faces Tezuka quickly defended himself. "Oishi could be quite forceful when he chose to be."

"Hoi! Hoi!" agreed Eiji pen moving a mile a minute, while the rest of the men grinned at the thought of Tezuka getting dragged anywhere.

"So anyways we got to the pool and Oishi just jumped right in…." Tezuka trailed off. "Maybe this wasn't such a good one to share," he said blushing slightly.

"Nya! Can't stop now! I've already started recording it!" smiled Eiji. Tezuka frowned.

"Fine" said Tezuka before continuing on with a aggravated voice "… so anyways Oishi jumped right in. Then he tried to get me to come in the water. I told him no… He argued with me for a good half hour before finally giving up. He got out of the pool and then pushed me in-" He story was interrupted by the laughter coming from all the other men.

"Fssh- fssh-fssh… Pushed you in?" asked Kaidoh with that weird, snake-like laugh.

"Yes. He pushed me in… unfortunately I didn't know how to swim." Said Tezuka. Causing even more laughter. Their buchou not knowing how to swim, it just seemed so strange. "The lifeguard rescued me, Oishi apologized and then we were banned from the pool-"

"Oh is that the on by the subway!" asked Eiji. Tezuka nodded slightly. "I always wondered why Oishi never wanted to go there! Whenever I suggested swimming he wouldn't go there… but that wasn't it was it! He wasn't _allowed_ to go there!" grinned Eiji.

"It didn't matter because the next day we went to a different pool. Oishi brought with him almost every inflatable device known to man-" this caused more laughter. It was so Oishi-like to overdo the safety precautions. "But then he taught me how to swim instead. End of story" said Tezuka, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

After that everyone had a story. Momo told about how he and Echizen had convinced Oishi to take them to an R-rated movie. Echizen told a story about how he'd found Oishi and Eiji stalking him, just to make sure that he really wasn't sick. Well Oishi stalking him out of concern, Eiji stalking him for the hell of it. Fuji told a story about Oishi and a nasty math test dream. Kaidoh told the story about him and Oishi getting lost in the mountains on a training trip a few years back. Taka talked about the first time Oishi had tried his wasabi sushi. Inui told a story about the side effects Oishi had from a particularly nasty Penal Tea.

About halfway through Momo's story Mrs. Oishi came up with futons and blankets. They were quickly all set up, and before long all the men found themselves falling asleep in the comfort of Oishi's room, memories and all their comrades to share their memories with.

Eiji had long since fallen asleep on "his" half of the bed cuddled up with Oishi's pillow and his teddy bear.

The last one awake was Tezuka. He was the only one to notice when Mrs. Oishi snuck in the room. She carefully tiptoed her way across all the young men to cover them all with their kicked off blankets. She finally kissed Eiji on the forehead and then returned to the doorway silently crying.

"Thank you," she whispered to no one in particular. "Thank you for being such great friends."

The next morning dawned bright and early. The young men all trooped down to join the remaining Oishis for breakfast. It was good and they all told Mrs. Oishi as much. They all thanked her.

"Wait!" She called out to them, as they were just about to leave. They stopped and watched the woman come rushing to them to large bulky bags on her arms. "I… I want you to have your fish," she said. She showed the bags she was carrying were filled with 8 identical travel size fish tanks. She brandished a fish scooper and handed the bags to Inui who was standing the closest.

"Go get your fish… Shuichiro would want their name sakes to have them," she smiled. Eiji nodded and led them back upstairs. They all filled the tanks with water, and then descended into chaos attempting to catch their fish.

"Nya! Kaidoh! That's Momo fish!"

"Stop trying to steal my fish mamushi!"

"Nya! Ochibi you're getting away!"

"Wrong Fujiko! That's Tezuka fish!"

"I know"

"Fujiko!"

"I want me"

"That can be taken so many ways Tezuka-buchou… mada mada da ne… stupid fish got away again"

"If I go to the left there's a 75 chance that I can catch my fish"

"BURNING-O! GREAT-O!"

"Taka! That's a net not a racket!"

Mrs. Oishi stood in the doorway watching the proceedings with great amusement. A few minutes of closely monitored chaos later, the eight men stood watching their fish in the travel tanks. Only Eiji looked at the large tank sadly.

"Totoro is gonna be sad, all his fishy friends are gone," said Eiji.

"I can fix that," smiled Mrs. Oishi. She took the scooper from Kaidoh, who had the most trouble catching his fish. In one swift motion she scooped up Totoro and dropped him into the Eiji's tank with Sushi.

"But then you won't have any fishes!" spluttered Eiji.

"Don't worry, Totoro and Sushi need to be together don't they," she said with a knowing smile to a bright red Eiji before kissing him on the cheek and shuffling all the men out her door.

"Promise you'll all come back and visit!" the men all promised they would and then all went their separate ways, and then Mrs. Oishi returned to her broken, quiet home.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT

I wasn't intending to do an epilogue, but it just fit and I really wanted to have at least something happy.

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A few months later, found Eiji, Tezuka, Fuji, Taka, Momo, Kaidoh, and Inui crowded into the Oishis living room watching the last match of Wimbledon. It was Echizen versus some hotshot Australian tennis player twice his age.

The camera focused on Echizen, he pulled his hat lower.

"Mada mada da ne" he said quietly in Japanese, with a smirk Echizen looked up meeting his opponents eyes. Echizen jumped into the air. Eiji gave a strangled gasp and covered his mouth with his hand. The group quickly gave him a worried look. His eyes were wide and glued to the screen.

"I'd know that move anywhere! That's… that's the Moon Volley," he whispered. It all made sense. They turned to watch as Echizen made the final point and win the Wimbledon with Oishi's moon volley, just as he promised.

The living room when into absolute chaos!

"Echizen did it! He won!" There was lots of screaming, hugging, high-fiving and general celebration, complete with burgers, wasabi sushi and ice cream.

The camera focused in on Echizen again. The president of the Wimbledon tournament handed Echizen a large trophy. Reporters were jockeying to get their questions answered. One voice rang out above the others.

"How does it feel to be the youngest winner in Wimbledon history?"

"… just like every other tournament," answered Echizen.

"That was an impressive game! Is there anything you'd like to say?" asked another reporter. Echizen turned to look at the reporter who had asked the question. Echizen gave him a smile.

"Actually there is something I'd like to say." The reporter shoved his microphone forward.

"… Just like I said… This one is for you Oishi-sempai!" he said giving the camera a real smile.

"Who's this Oishi-sempai?" asked another reporter.

"A very good friend and teammate who should always be remembered, so this win was for him… I'll claim the next Wimbledon win for me," smirked Echizen.

Then the camera cut to the talking heads in the press box.

"So Tom just who is this Oishi-sempai?" asked the lady.

"Well Sherry, we don't know for sure but it is believed that the Oishi-sempai Echizen Ryoma was referring to is this man." Said Tom, the man. A picture that was taken of the Seigaku team right after nationals covered the screen.

"Hey that's us!" cried Momo in the middle of tackling Taka.

"Ssh! I can't hear what they're saying about Oishi!" scolded Tezuka. The room immediately quieted.

A blue circle appeared on the screen surrounding Oishi's head. Tom continued to talk. "Oishi Shuichiro was apparently on the same Seigaku tennis teams as Echizen in his younger years."

"It has recently come to our attention that Mr. Oishi was apparently the victim of a fatal drunk hit and run three months in Japan," interrupted Sherry. The talking heads went on to talk about Echizen's formative years in the US.

The phone rang, and Tezuka muted the TV while Eiji picked up the phone.

"Oishi residence! Kikumaru Eiji speaking!" he chirped.

"Kikumaru-sempai?" said the very familiar voice of Echizen.

"Ochibi!" said Eiji. The rest of the men turned to the phone and started yelling the congratulations. The TV returned to a shot of Echizen with the trophy in one hand, and glaring at the cell phone he held a foot away from his head.

"SSH! You're gonna make Ochibi deaf!" yelled Eiji. It brought the noise down a little, just enough that on the TV they could see Echizen place the phone back on his ear.

"Who all is there?"

"Everyone!" said Eiji happily.

"Did you all see?" asked Echizen. "Did you see the moon volley?"

"Shouldn't you be asking if we saw you win"

"mada mada da ne, some things are more important"

"Aw! Ochibi is getting all mushy!" Echizen on TV frowned and his eyebrow twitched, wether at the comment or the name it wasn't real obvious.

"I'm not getting _mushy_… I just wanted to make sure you saw… saw for Oishi-sempai" said Echizen. The phone was grabbed out of Eiji's hands.

"Echizen! You're making Kikumaru-sempai cry!" mock scolded Momo. The Echizen on TV looked slightly apologetic.

"Tell him I'm sorry."

"He knows…. Congratulations! Now come home so we can have a real celebration!" said Momo hanging up the phone. Tezuka immediately unmated the TV. Echizen was shaking his head and re-pocketing his cell phone. The reporters rushed him again.

"Echizen! Who was that? Who was the first person you called to tell you won?"

"It doesn't matter" said Echizen frowning. "It loses the suspense when they watch it."

"What does Ochibi mean?" Echizen looked up at the reporter, if looks could kill.

"… It mean's Kikumaru-sempai is dead" The living room burst into laughter.

"Now that you've won Wimbledon what are you going to do next?"

"I'm not going to Disneyland if that's what you're implying," The reporter looked flustered, apparently that had been what he was implying.

"Well then what are your plans?"

"… I've got a celebration to catch," he said with a smirk. "It'll be at Taka-sempai's restaurant and it'll have lots of ice cream, hamburgers, wasabi sushi, and some very poorly sung karoke!"


End file.
